195

length of vein, and that the shaft had been sunk near the eastern limit of
“pay ore’; that is to say, that the vein to the east was poorer, whereas from
the shaft westward the values increased. In the winze from the drift
average samples assayed as high as $37, and in the western bore-hole good
values were also found. This would seem to indicate that “pay chutes’
are liable to occur in these veins, and that even though the past workings
of many of the large ledges have not proved up paying ore, yet that further
prospecting may discover chutes amply large and rich enough to be profit-
ably worked.’’!

“The quartz in this large vein carried from 4 to 5 per cent of sulphides,
which on concentration are said to have assayed in making mill tests over
$20 per ton, but so far all tests for free-milling gold have been very low, or
$1.50 to $2 per ton, and in this large vein no pay chutes or special pay-
streaks have yet been developed in the amount of work so far done.’”

“‘At 52 feet below the surface, the ledge is 22 feet wide; and assays of
rock from this depth averaged $33 per ton (average of eight assays.) On
the surface the vein averaged $14 per ton. At the Victoria shaft on the
same ledge, at the depth of 350 feet, the vein averaged $14 per ton. Assays
ranged from $24 to $36 per ton from width of vein of 30 feet.’

“The St. Lawrence Company, situated at the eastern extremity of the
Big Bonanza, have run a cut across the vein. This portion of the lode has
well-defined vertical walls, the vein matter, containing a small percentage
of iron pyrite, lead, and blende, assays from $6 to $35 per ton.’

Bowman adds the following: “Mr. Forrest states that this rock was
assayed in 1878, and was reported to contain $90 a ton, but that subse-
quently the assays were reported erroneous . . . Some galena is found in
the hanging-wall; in the foot-wall the ore is all pyrites.’’®

In 1912, R. R. Hedley sampled the Bonanza lode, and in reply to a
letter of inquiry, gives the following notes:

“As I remember, from the many samples taken, the predominating
assay result was about $1.80 in gold per ton. There was one shoot, all too
brief, that carried about $10, and there were some about $3 per ton. This
was a great disappointment to me, as an English report pointed to an
average of about $15 if my memory serves.”

Proserpine Mountain Ledges

Numerous ledges or veins occur on the top of Proserpine mountain,
which lies between Grouse creek and the headwaters of Williams creek.
Some of these, as, for instance, those on the Proserpine, Proserpine West,
Proserpine South, Proserpine East, and Wilkinson (real estate) claims,
received attention and development in the early days of quartz mining, and
continued to be developed to some extent by C. J. Seymour Baker and
associates during later years. The veins on the remaining claims, Discov-
ery, Hard Cash, Independence, Vimy Ridge, Kitchener, Tipperary, Warspite,

1Ann. Rept., Minister of Mines, B.C., 1902, p. 110.
2Ann. Rept., Minister of Mines, B.C., 1897, p. 474,
3Ann. Rept., Minister of Mines, B.C., 1s P. oe from letter by R. B. Harper.

4Ann. Rept., Minister of Mines, B.C., 1887
5Geol. Surv., Canada, Ann. Rept., vol. Ill, ae c p. 32 (1889).